Tipperary hurler jailed for biting player’s ear
For the first time in GAA history, a player has been jailed for an on-pitch incident after he bit off part of another hurler’s ear during a match.
Bricklayer Toms Keane (30), a Fethard GAA club hurler, was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment with the final nine months suspended for assaulting ire g Annacarthy hurler Brian Ryan in 2006. He is serving his sentence at Limerick prison.
Keane, a married father-of-two from Glenview, Lisronagh, Co Tipperary, was also ordered by the court to pay Ryan 12,000 compensation for estimated economic loss as a result of the injury. The criminal case took place in Clonmel Circuit Court on 24 October last.
Keane, who had no previous convictions, committed the assault while playing as a forward for Fethard in an intermediate league quarter-final match between Fethard and ire g at Boherlahan on 5 June, 2006. The GAA suspended Keane from playing for 96 weeks.
Ryan, who had been marking the forward in the match, had to undergo reconstructive plastic surgery at Cork University Hospital where surgeons took skin from the back of his left ear and reconstructed the top of his injured right ear. He is now bringing a civil action against Keane.
GAA National Hurling Co-ordinator Paudie Butler, who was a character witness in a personal capacity for Keane at the trial, said his jailing had “sent shockwaves through the organisation”.
Keane contested the assault charges, arguing that he “bit out” at Ryan in self-defence as he lay trapped on the ground being kicked and receiving blows.
“We readily accept he did a wrong thing. The GAA does not condone violence on the field. I came in with the hope that he would not serve a custodial sentence. The GAA had already dealt with it very seriously with his ban,” he told the Sunday Tribune. “This was a very unfortunate incident and a wake-up call to everyone. Every county board in the country will take stock of this. I believe it will have a good effect and will make sure players play the sport the way it should be played.”
A spokeswoman for the GAA said it was “not aware of any other player who had been jailed for an on-pitch incident”.
Larry Fenelon, a partner in Leman solicitors in Dublin and sports law expert, said the judgement was “very significant” and "is recognition by the judiciary that violence on the pitch does not stay on the pitch anymore.
“This might light the necessary fire under players to wake up and act responsibly. There has been a cultural shift, we will now increasingly see off-the ball incidents ending up in the courts,” he added.
Fethard GAA club spokesman Gus Ferguson said that Keane was remorseful about the assault and was “devastated” by the prison sentence.
“This guy’s life has been ruined. He’ll find it very hard to put his life back on track. The GAA would not have survived a century and a half if people went running to the courts. This has set a very worrying precedent.”
Ryan was awarded compensation following the assault under the GAA’s player injury scheme. Judge Donagh McDonagh de-scribed the assault as “barbaric” when passing sentence.